Microsoft today announced a public technology preview of their Deepfish browser. Deepfish works similar to Opera Mini on Java-enabled cell phones. The browser uses server-side processing to render pages specifically for mobile screens, allowing the user easily to browse desktop-formatted web sites.

The experience is similar to Apple’s iPhone. Using the multi-touch display on iPhone, a user can zoom in or out, easily navigating desktop-designed web sites. However, one key advantage of iPhone’s Safari web browser is that it does not require an external server to render web pages for the device. This enables iPhone to handle more advanced browsing functions such as AJAX out-of-the-box. Deepfish does not support AJAX, ActiveX, HTTP POST, or similar technologies at this time.

Microsoft cautions that this is a technological preview, and as such, is currently limited in terms of functionality. This is pre-beta software, and Microsoft stresses that it does not represent the quality of any final product. The technology preview is available for both Smartphone and Pocket PC devices running Windows Mobile 5 or later.